


Your Power Is Your Own

by Katsudonace



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Injury, Keith and Shiro are Siblings, Light Angst, M/M, bnha au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-08
Updated: 2018-01-08
Packaged: 2019-03-01 23:07:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13305285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katsudonace/pseuds/Katsudonace
Summary: After the fight with Stain, Keith and Lance find themselves alone in the hospital together. It forces a few revelations between the two of them, some good and others bad. It's up to them to sort through their issues to find a way that they can be together.(Tododeku Klance AU)





	Your Power Is Your Own

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for [Keiths_Galaxy](https://keiths-galaxy.tumblr.com/) for a private server fic exchange.
> 
> Shiro's look is based off a post made by [Angst-In-Space](http://angst-in-space.tumblr.com/post/163813645527/i-cant-believe-this), because it was gold. Also, thank you to [221bdisneystreet](http://221bdisneystreet.tumblr.com/) and [Angst-In-Space](http://angst-in-space.tumblr.com/) for betaing. It wouldn't have been readable without them.

It was quiet in the hospital room as Keith and Lance lay in their respective beds. It’d been hours since they’d said good-bye to Hunk since he was going home for the rest of his treatment. Keith stared at Lance, who didn’t seem to notice that Keith was looking at him. 

Lance wasn’t in the best mood, Keith could tell that much. After what happened with the Hero Killer Stain and then the ensuing cover-up, Keith didn’t blame Lance for being withdrawn. The adult heroes had scolded him harshly for how he handled the situation, and Lance had a way of taking the burdens on all by himself.

They were both tired after pushing their limits in that fight. Keith could see the bandages on Lance’s leg and arm, imagining the tape that had to be on his chest after the beating he’d taken from Stain. The memory of that battle haunted him: coming into the alley, seeing Lance paralyzed on the pavement and then when Stain had grabbed Lance at the end. Keith’s heart had been pounding ever since he’d gotten Lance’s text, knowing that there was something terribly wrong. That Lance needed him. Even now, seeing Lance like this made Keith hurt for some reason.

“Lance,” Keith said, but Lance didn’t look at him, eyes focusing instead on whatever was outside the window. He wasn’t muttering underneath his breath, so Keith assumed that his mind was quiet for the most part. “Lance!” Grabbing his pillow, Keith tossed it over at the other bed, hitting Lance in the face. “Pay attention when I’m talking to you!”

Lance scowled and threw the pillow back. He sighed, leaning against the headboard of the bed. “Sorry, Keith,” he said, and he sounded like he meant it. This wasn’t what Keith wanted. He wanted to cheer Lance up, not make him sadder. “I didn’t mean to ignore you. I guess my mind was on other things. What were you saying?”

“I wanted to tell you that none of this was your fault. Hunk was the one who decided to go out and get revenge, not you.” Keith frowned, not certain if he was saying the right words. He didn’t want to lay all the blame on Hunk, either. “A lot of actions could have been done differently. Hunk is his own person. You can’t control his actions.”

“He’s my best friend, though.” Lance tugged a knee up to his chest, looking down at the blankets. “I feel like I wasn’t there for him when he needed me. Like if I had just reached out, or hadn’t been so focused on training with Gran Torino that I would have seen that he needed help.” He rested his chin on his knee. “I feel like I failed him.”

“You didn’t fail anyone.” Keith eased himself out of bed, wincing at the pain in his joints. He hadn’t been hurt as badly as the others, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t feeling the fight, too. “You can’t-” Lance’s words echoed through Keith’s head as he remembered the sports festival, how Lance had broken every bone in his body to make Keith see that his power was his own. “You can’t break yourself to save everyone. Sometimes, it’s not that simple.”

“It seemed to do wonders for you,” Lance replied, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips. He grew quiet, gaze shifting past Keith to the window. “If you hadn’t come, Hunk and I would have both died. There was no way I could’ve taken on Stain by myself. I was stupid for thinking that I could. Though, I wasn’t even thinking, if I’m being honest.”

“I think that’s what I like about you.” At Keith’s words, Lance’s cheeks bloomed red, making an awkwardness arise in Keith. He shifted, crossing his arms across his chest to ground himself. “You always rush in without thinking, yeah, but it’s because you’re more concerned about the people. Not a lot of heroes have that natural instinct. I know I don’t. When I rush in, I’m just thinking about defeating the bad guy by any means necessary. You’re the one who actually gives a damn.”

“Then why did you answer my text?” Lance asked. His full attention was back on Keith, boring holes into him. Keith could see the wheels turning, a million thoughts racing through Lance’s head as he analyzed every bit of Keith’s behavior. “If you weren’t thinking about protecting people, why did you rush over to my location? For all you knew, I could have been texting you for any reason.”

Keith’s mouth felt dry. That wasn’t a question he had an answer for. “I didn’t care about protecting the people. If I did, I would have stuck with my dad.” He glanced off to the side, finding a spot on the wall to stare at so he didn’t have to face Lance. “When I got your text, all I cared about was protecting you.”

“Why me?” Lance asked, and Keith had been hoping he wouldn’t. “I’m nothing. I’ve always been nothing. The only reason why I’m anything special-” He cut himself off, eyes flickering away as pain filled them. “I know it doesn’t make a lot of sense, but the only reason why I’m anything special is because Coran is mentoring me. If it wasn’t for All-Might then-”

“It’s your power!” Keith interrupted. “Isn’t that what you told me?” Lance still wasn’t looking at him, so Keith moved closer and sat on the bed. “I don’t know what your relationship with Coran is, still. I don’t know if he’s your dad or your uncle or cousin twice removed, but I do know that it’s _your_ power. You control it and how you use it. You’re what makes it special, not him, Lance.”

“You don’t even know me.” Lance drew into himself further, and Keith didn’t know what to do. It was hard to comfort someone, especially since Lance always knew what to say to brighten the mood. “You don’t know what I was like before coming to UA. We wouldn’t even be talking. You wouldn’t have even noticed me.”

“So, what?” Keith reached out and put a hand on Lance’s shoulder. Finally, Lance looked up at him, eyes glassy. “You’re not the person you were back then, and neither am I. Before coming to UA, I didn’t think I would ever have friends. I thought I’d have to follow the path that was laid out for me. It doesn’t matter if I’d like you back then, because I like you now.”

Lance stared at Keith, and it was hard to know what he was thinking. Keith wanted to know if he had said the right words to make Lance see that he was special, at least to Keith. It made Keith realize how close they were to each other. His hand felt like it was burning on Lance’s shoulder, but he didn’t take it off. Instead he found himself drawing closer to Lance. As Keith moved in, Lance’s hand found its way to Keith’s cheek. Lance leaned in, closing the distance between them until his lips were on Keith’s.

The kiss was wet while tears spilled freely down Lance’s cheeks, and Keith didn’t know if it was supposed to be this way since he’d never kissed anyone else. Though, Lance seemed to be fumbling through the kiss, lips moving just as awkwardly as Keith’s. That didn’t make it bad. Keith found it a relief that Lance didn’t seem to know how to kiss, either. From how popular he was at UA, Keith would have thought Lance would have had more experience.

They might have kept exploring, but there was a sudden knock on the door. The moment ended, and Lance reeled back, scrambling away from Keith as his whole face turned bright red. Keith’s cheeks burned as well, and he had no idea what had gotten into him. Well, he did. He knew he had feelings for Lance, but he didn’t know what had possessed him to act on them. Keith had always agreed with himself that it was better just being Lance’s friend.

As they sat there, staring at each other, blushing profusely, the door opened and Shiro entered. He seemed extra tired today, with deep bags under his eyes. His long hair fell in a wild mess around his face, and he looked more frazzled than how Keith was used to seeing his brother. It had to be tiring dealing with the mess they’d made, especially since it would put Shiro in direct contact with their father, which Keith knew was never a pleasant experience for him.

“Mister Shirogane!” Lance exclaimed. The nervous sound in his voice made one of Shiro’s eyebrows rise. “What a surprise! We weren’t doing anything!” He waved his hands wildly through the air as he laughed. It made Keith want to put a hand over Lance’s mouth, but he didn’t. “I swear!”

“Why would I think you were doing anything?” Shiro asked, though his eyes flickered between the two of them knowingly. “Anyway, Keith, I talked to Endeavor, and I convinced him that you could stay with me until you healed. So, get dressed while I sign the release forms, alright?”

“Yeah, got it, Shiro,” Keith told him with a nod, unable to hold back his awkwardness. He hadn’t really spoken with his half-brother before he became Keith’s homeroom teacher. Shiro didn’t like their father for good reasons. Keith himself barely could stand Endeavor, so he could only imagine the anger Shiro felt knowing that their father had abandoned his family because his mother didn’t produce a kid with the right quirk.

Shiro nodded back and left the room, closing the door behind him and leaving Keith and Lance alone in the room together again. Keith could already see Lance shifting his gaze away from him. The way Lance was acting made Keith’s throat tighten. He knew Lance had kissed him back, but it was hard not to feel as if he had misread the energy between them.

“Keith, I-” Lance began. His fingers found their way to his hospital gown as a pained expression formed on his face. “We can’t. It wouldn’t work out between us.” As he spoke, Keith felt as if Stain had sliced him again, but deeper, to the bone. “I shouldn’t have texted you. I shouldn’t have gotten you involved. What if it had been...” He trailed off and shook his head. “You have to believe me when I say you’d be safer keeping your distance from me, at least like that.”

“Why not?” Keith demanded. “I’m a hero, too, Lance. You’re treating me like I’m some helpless civilian, but I can take care of myself.” Lance still didn’t look at him, and that only made Keith angrier. “You don’t have to always be the one to sacrifice yourself. You look at yourself as if you’re lesser than everyone else in this class, but you’re not.”

Keith reached out a hand, but Lance shoved it away. “No, you can’t get involved in this. End of discussion.” Lance eased himself out of bed and, despite the injury on his leg, began to hobble towards the bathroom. Though Keith could have stopped him, he allowed Lance to leave, slamming the door behind him. Keith rubbed his eyes, trying to stop any tears that wanted to escape. He thought the two of them had bonded, but it seemed as if he was wrong.

* * *

For the rest of the time he spent working at his father’s hero agency, Keith couldn’t stop thinking about what had happened in the hospital. He couldn’t figure out what big secret Lance was keeping from him. It seemed as if Lance was just making excuses, and the more Keith thought about it, the angrier he got. Lance was supposed to be different from everyone else. He was supposed to be nice, a real hero, but he had lied right to Keith’s face.

The anger continued to boil in him, and when it finally reached time to return to UA, Keith was at his breaking point. He had run over all the possible reasons for Lance to lie to him, and each one was progressively worse. Keith didn’t want to think the worst of Lance, but it was hard, especially when the lying reminded him of Endeavor. Keith didn’t want to waste time on someone who turned out to be like his father.

Keith saw Lance as he was walking up through the school gate to the entrance. He was walking with Hunk and Allura, apparently not noticing Keith behind him. There was a smile on his face, one that didn’t reach his eyes, as he chatted with his two friends about the internships at the hero agencies. While Keith wanted to yell out to Lance and demand answers, he froze at the look on Lance’s face, feeling a pit in the bottom of his stomach.

After a few more beats, Lance was out of sight, disappearing into the building. Keith didn’t know what feeling had come over him from seeing Lance’s face, but it concerned him. He decided to watch Lance for the rest of the day, not caring if he got in trouble with Shiro. From what Keith could tell, when he didn’t think anyone was looking, Lance seemed withdrawn and sad, eyes downcast or staring out the window aimlessly.

That wasn’t like the Lance that Keith knew, and it concerned him. What happened with Stain seemed to be getting to Lance. Still, the conversation in the hospital played out in his head, making him remember that Lance didn’t want anything to do with him in that capacity. He glanced between Hunk and Allura then to Shay and Pidge, wondering if he should tell any of them what was going on with Lance. Hunk was their class representative, after all. On the other hand, they were Lance’s friends, and if Keith tried to approach them, they would probably tell Lance that Keith had asked about him.

Keith continued to run through a list of potential people that he could go to about Lance’s behavior. His first thought was Shiro, but he was more someone that Keith could go to for help rather than Lance, especially after the skill tests since Shiro had gone extra hard on Lance for some reason. He thought about Slav, though he didn’t seem like a good choice, either. Maybe the principal? But Keith didn’t know how he’d handle the situation. That was when his mind turned to Coran. He and Lance might not have been related like Keith thought, but they had almost identical quirks, and Keith could see that Coran tended to favor Lance, even if he tried not to make it obvious.

With the decision made, Keith waited until after school and went to the teacher’s lounge to wait for Coran to come outside. Keith leaned against the wall. He could hear hushed voices from the other side and wondered if there was a teachers’ conference happening. When the voices stopped, and the door opened, however, it was Lance who walked out instead of a teacher. His face was even more pained than it had been this morning, and his fists were clenched at his sides, shaking slightly.

Lance didn’t seem to notice Keith as he began to walk away. His pace was slow, feet dragging against the tile. While Keith knew it wasn’t any of his business, he couldn’t stop himself from calling out, “Hey, Lance!” Lance’s back stiffened as he froze in place. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” Lance said, and when he turned around, he was smiling, but it didn’t reach his eyes. Maybe it was because Keith studied him so much, but he could always tell when Lance’s smile wasn’t genuine. “How long have you been standing there?” Lance rubbed at the back of his neck with a chuckle. “Hope you weren’t waiting long.”

Keith pursed his lips, trying to figure out how to correctly spell out his thoughts. He wasn’t good with words, and whatever he said came out wrong, his mind still replaying the time when he accused Lance of being Coran’s secret lovechild. “You’re not fine.” Keith decided to keep it simple. “You haven’t been since Stain. What happened?”

“Nothing happened.” The tension in Lance’s shoulders grew and he stepped forward, abandoning his façade. “Like I said at the hospital, this isn’t your battle, and you shouldn’t get involved. You and the rest of the class have gotten involved too much as it is.”

“Hunk chose to go after Stain alone,” Keith said, stepping forward until their chests were almost touching. “And you were the one who texted me.” Though, he had overheard today that even Rolo had gotten a text from Lance, making Keith feel less justified in pressing this point. “On some base level, you know that we’re already involved, that _I’m_ already involved. So, stop hiding and let me help you!”

“How can you help me?” Lance shouted at him before putting a hand over his mouth, glancing at the door. “We’re not having this conversation out where everyone can hear.” He glanced around, but it didn’t seem as if anyone else was around. “Come on. Let’s take this outside.” He began walking away at a quick pace, almost as if he didn’t intend for Keith to follow.

Still, Keith walked behind him, following Lance down the stairs, away from the teachers’ lounge to the back entrance of the school. It was only used for when they were going to the training arenas, so it was empty, away from anyone who might have been leaving school late. Lance continued walking, leading them into a small cluster of trees on the edge of the school grounds.

“Are you going to speak with me yet or are we going to walk to the next city before you say something?” Keith asked to Lance’s back. He was tempted to grab Lance’s shoulder and force him to turn around to look at him, but Lance was a lot sturdier than he looked, for one, and he didn’t want to push Lance any further away from him. “Just talk to me.”

“I don’t know where to even start,” Lance confessed, a slight tremble in his voice. He turned around, and he stared at Keith with a lost expression. “There’s so much that’s happened to me, so much I didn’t expect. I wanted to protect everyone, all my friends, my family, the people I love.” Looking down at the ground, Lance shook his head. “The fight with Stain, seeing how badly you and Hunk were injured, it made me realize I can’t protect anyone, and if I continue down this path then I’ll have to do it alone. Please respect that.”

“No!” Keith closed his eyes and sucked in a breath. When he found his center, he opened them again, so he could stare pleadingly at Lance. “I mean, I do want to respect you, but I’m not going to accept that you have to do this alone. You’re the one who taught me that I don’t have to do this by myself, that there are other people with the same goals fighting beside me. You made me feel like part of a team. Now you’re going to tell me that it only applies to everyone else, not you? Don’t you think that’s selfish?”

“You don’t understand!” Lance shouted before he snapped his mouth closed. He looked away from Keith, crossing his arms over his chest. Despite being taller than Keith, Lance seemed small as he withdrew on himself. “You just wouldn’t understand,” he repeated, quieter this time. “Just go away, so you can stay safe.”

“Then make me understand.” Keith reached out, but Lance took a step back. Biting his lip, Keith withdrew his hand. He hated not knowing what to do. If this was a fight, he’d have some sort of instinct to run on, a drive telling him which moves to use, but despite them arguing, this wasn’t one, which was maybe why he was struggling so much. “Please. If it really is that dangerous, make me understand, because I don’t.”

Lance sighed then glanced back at him. There was a slight pause as Lance glanced at him with a calculating expression, as if debating on what he should say. “Keith, I was born quirkless,” the words sounding bitter as Lance said them, “but then I met Coran. He saw something in me, and he passed down his quirk to me, One-For-All.” 

Keith stared at him in confusion, uncertain what to make of Lance’s story, if he even believed it. He didn’t want to question Lance, though, worried that he might leave or stop talking to him. “What’s One-For-All?” he decided to ask instead. “And what does it have to do with why we can’t be together?”

“It’s a special quirk. It gains power by being passed down from one person to the next,” Lance explained. “And there’s someone bad, someone evil who wants it, who’d _kill_ for it. That’s why we can’t be together. If it got out that I was the successor of One-For-All, or if One-For-All even existed, then everyone I loved would be in danger, and I couldn’t do that to you.”

“Let’s say I believe you,” Keith said as he stepped closer to Lance, glad that he didn’t seem to be pulling away this time. “Let’s say I believe that there’s a quirk that can make someone without a quirk have one.” He searched Lance’s eyes, trying to figure out the truth, though he wasn’t sure why Lance would make up such an elaborate lie just to stop Keith from dating him. “Why didn’t you ever tell me?”

“We were mostly keeping it a secret from everyone. Only a few teachers like Shiro and the principal know that I even possess this quirk.” Lance gently bit his bottom lip with a guilty expression on his face. “But Coran told me not to tell you specifically because he was worried about what Endeavor would do if he found out. He’s always had it out for Coran, if-”

“You really think I’d tell my father this?” It was hard to contain his anger, and Keith felt small flames lick at the palm of his hand. He inhaled, calming himself. “I thought you knew me. I thought we bonded at the Sports Festival, Lance. I would never tell my father that, especially if I knew it’d hurt you. I thought I had made it clear that I hate him.”

“I’m telling you now,” Lance said, as if that made this any better. “And I didn’t know you then. When we first became classmates, you were always glaring at me, watching me. You came off as really cold, like you didn’t want anyone around. Which you didn’t. Then with the Sports Festival, what was I supposed to say? That the quirk wasn’t mine? After the speech I gave, about your power being your own, I would have sounded like a hypocrite.”

Keith cleared his throat, not wanting to admit the real reason he was watching Lance. “Nothing you’ve told me has made this quirk seem like anything but yours.” He cautiously reached out a hand, and when Lance didn’t brush it away, he grabbed hold of Lance’s hand, running his fingers over the scars there. “You work yourself to the bone, break yourself to master your quirk. I’ll say it as many times as it takes for you to understand, Lance. This is your power, not his.”

Lance didn’t say anything, just frowned at their hands together, so Keith did what he had always wanted to do. He brought Lance’s hand up to his lips and kissed the scars that Lance had because of him, because Keith had been too stubborn and proud to give the fight everything he had from the beginning. As Keith kissed each one, he heard Lance suck in a breath and looked up to see that a blush had bloomed in Lance’s cheeks, going all the way up to his ears.

“It’s your power,” Keith repeated between kisses. It seemed to be the right move finally, because he could see the tension leaving Lance, melting him back into the boy that he knew. “It’s your power,” he said again. It was hard not to get pleasure out of watching Lance become so red. “And you have a power of your own.”

“Oh?” Lance asked, his voice several octaves higher than normal, and Keith chuckled at how it sounded. That seemed to make Lance more red, which Keith hadn’t thought was possible. Lance cleared his throat again, seemingly having lost the ability to speak. “I- Uh- Well, I’m pretty sure- We went to medical doctors-”

“Well, they were wrong.” Keith pulled Lance closer in a sudden burst of confidence. He put a hand around Lance’s waist, feeling guilty for how much he was enjoying making Lance flustered. “You have the power to always see the good in people and to make people want to be better. That’s a pretty good quirk, don’t you think?”

Lance looked at Keith, blinking as tears began to form in his eyes, but it was different this time. There was no hardness in them, just a gentle appreciation as the tears began to stream down his cheeks. He leaned down, pressing his lips into Keith’s for their second kiss. Keith’s hand found its way into Lance’s hair, and he didn’t know if he would be able to protect Lance from the evil that he spoke of, but as a hero and possibly Lance’s boyfriend, he was going to try.

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me on my writing journal at [KatsudonAce](https://katsudonace.tumblr.com/) or on my main at [Keithphantom](http://keithphantom.tumblr.com/).


End file.
